Coldwater manager gets praise, raise

Monday

Jul 1, 2013 at 1:30 PM

By Don Reid

dwreid@aol.com

COLDWATER — Coldwater City Manager Jeff Budd received high praise in his annual evaluation last week — along with a 2 percent pay raise.

"The over all consensus of the council is that Jeff’s performance has been outstanding," Mayor Tom Kramer read from the statement he prepared after a closed session evaluation after the council meeting.

Kramer went on to detail how Budd performs and exceeds expectations in the various areas of responsibilities.

In addition, Budd will receive a one-time bonus of $5,500 for handling the job of both manager and finance director since he was hired to replace Bill Stewart in February 2010.

Kramer said Budd doing both jobs has saved the city "thousands and thousands of dollars." Because handling both jobs has become too difficult in the past year, the city has had a temporary person in the finance director's spot while trying to fill the position with a permanent employee.

Budd had wanted to return to his old position after just six months as manager, but he was convinced to stay. The council also increased Budd's car allowance from $375 a month to $450.

Budd’s raise is $178 a month. His last pay raise was in August 2011 when his annual salary was set at $107,000.